International Workshop of Restoration and Sustainability in Curtisoara, Romania

In August and September 2009 ESUA held the International Workshop of Restoration and Construction Summer School in Curtisoara, Romania, engaging students in heritage documentation and a real-life construction project.

"Artis Web Workshops" is an asociation created by Stefan Bortnowski and Serban Sturdza. This organization values craftsmanship as an "art of common sense" and encourages the students creativity on these bases through workshops. It proposes the student to experience an advanced restoration methodology. The on-site investigation implies five steps: an accurate drawed releve, a critical analysis, a building pathology, a diagnosis and finally a restoration proposition. This theoretical study was followed by one of practical work of restorattion and wood-crafting. An intense collective work was requested in order to accomplish this five-step process during the three weeks. This workshop was a unique opportunity for the students to complete their learning by a practical experience no ordinary architecture school could give them. Stefan Mancilescu, chief architect of the Monuments Historques, teacher at the Ecole de Chaillot, and Mihai Opreanu, architect, teacher at the ion Mincu architecture faculty of Bucharest, have been leading this workshop.

The short course focused both on the documentation of the heritage of the village of Curtisoara, as well as on the real-life construction of a wood shed in tradtional wood joinery technique. The summer school formed an integral part of the effort to develop an outdoor museum centre with historic Romanian farm houses, the only private museum of its kind in Romania.

Students measured, analysed and drew existing buildings both on the museum grounds on in the village of Curtisoara, and then proposed design solutions and methods for their conservation and regeneration. Many of the old wooden farmers houses on the museum grounds were proposed to be turned into simple guest houses, in a move to revitalise the museum and to give the buildings a use that can contribute to their upkeep. Lectures, student work, critiques and urban tours were integrated to understand the context og heritage and crafts.

The construction of the wood shed was led by Matthias Auerbach, with an emphasis on teaching traditional wood joinery. The students expressed great enthusiasm in the construction work.